Winter fields outside our son’s west country cottage where we all went for Christmas…
Inside looking out…..
The tree….
The gang….our grandchildren…
Harry’s big parcel…..what can it be?
Harry’s older cousin Oliver got as much pleasure from helping to give the present as he did from receiving his own. As for Harry – the monkey never left his side….
Which, I suppose, is part of what Christmas is about…..
h/t to our daughter Helena (Harry’s mum) who took the pics & Vicky our daughter in law (Oliver’s mum) who was our hostess…
Recorded in Italy in 1969 the Bill Evans version of the pop classic “Autumn Leaves”….beautifully improvised melody lines make this an all time jazz piano classic. Eddie Gomez is brilliant on bass and Marty Morell’s taut drumming gives the whole set an extra flourish.
When I was at university in the early 60s the vast majority of students were still into New Orleans style “trad” jazz but I always preferred the cooler side of modern jazz and nobody epitomised the essence of cool better than Bill Evans….
Hua Shan is a mountain in the Shaanxi Province of China, about 120 kilometres east of the city of Xi’an and is more than 2000 metres in height. Cut into the side of the mountain and overlooking a deep gorge is a pathway made up of three planks laid on top of iron bolts drilled into the rockface.
Walking along the planks, even with a safety harness, is terrifying but, if you fancy an adrenalin rush, this is the path to travel…..
The first view of the only 0.3 metres wide planks was simply and quite literally breathtaking: The half-rotten planks lay on some iron bolts that were drilled into the mountain every five meters or so and were held together by a few rusty nails. Walking onto the planks leaves you with nothing below you for at least a 1000 meters……………………………………… I am not sure how dangerous the walk actually is, but all three of us were holding on for dear life and walking ever so slowly, making sure we did not slip or let go of the handrail (unless we had to clip the harness into the next section).
Louis Armstrong plays and sings Edith Piaf’s love song “La vie en rose”. Not only does he manage to convey the romantic message of the lyrics with his gruff and gravelly voice but he proceeds to offer a masterclass in jazz trumpet…..
Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose….
Heard this years ago listening to the radio while driving along the Trans Canada Highway, of all places. Didn’t catch the title or the artist which was so frustrating because the riff embedded itself in my brain – I knew it had “dreams” in the lyrics but that just narrowed it down to about a million songs.
Then there it was one evening on the BBC’s “Later… with Jools Holland” (brilliant show, no grandstanding, just a succession of artists from all genres, simply playing music)
Never tire of it…beautiful lyrics….unforgettable riff….great singer….and do I want to be in that band…..
“It’s still 2 hours ’til this plane gets down,
I can hardly bear to wait another minute,
Your sweet lovin’s all I need,
And darlin’ it’s been buildin’ up inside of me,
Tonight we’re gonna paint the town,
We’re gonna drink champagne until we both fall down,
And find some other crazy dream tomorrow,”
It’s a choir of women – but they are very special women, very special indeed.
They are British military wives – and their husbands have just got back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
For several months they were on their own, waiting every second of every minute of every day for “that message” – and all the time having to do the mundane family things with the kids and the house and without much of a social network because the families move bases so often they rarely have time to root themselves into a community.
Enter choirmaster Gareth Malone.
A soldier’s wife wrote to him and suggested he take a group of those women and form them into a choir.
After a postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music, his infectious enthusiasm was spotted by a TV production company seeking a choirmaster to front a new programme about music in schools.
The result was the first series of The Choir, which saw Malone take a group of surly teenagers and prepare them for the performance of their lives at an international choral competition.
Three similar series (and two BAFTAs) followed — as as well as marriage to Becky, an English teacher… and the birth of their daughter, Esther
.
So he took up the challenge which is why earlier this year he found himself and his BBC TV crew in a Royal Marine base in Devon. He realised that his passionate belief in the power of music to transform people’s lives would certainly be tested in this environment.
“Because they are, to use a hackneyed phrase, unsung heroes. We sing about the Forces and everything they do, but not the people who are left behind. It seemed to me a missing part of the story. Some of the women I’ve been working with have got husbands or sons in really frontline positions. That’s very, very stressful.”
“These women have complex lives, and responsibilities. That makes them rich and fertile territory for a choir – because you’re drawing something out of them that they like to keep hidden. I think everyone felt that it’s positive to get those difficult feelings out through singing.”
It wasn’t easy. Many of the women were shy and self conscious and few had any ever sung in public. But over the months, although there were many ups and downs the women bonded and were transformed from “nervous novices into full voiced confident choristers”
Malone, (“geeky, glasses, bow ties, tweed jackets”) had never ever had anything to do with the services and was distinctly nervous about how he would be received by a military community that tends to keep to itself. But his passion for music, his unbridled enthusiasm and dogged determination won them over.
In the gloomy Officers’ Mess of a rain-swept Royal Marines base on a miserable October morning, choirmaster Gareth Malone is chatting animatedly about the importance of encouraging people to sing, when he is interrupted by a very large, rather menacing individual in green Army fatigues.
“I just wanted to shake your hand,” the marine says, thrusting out his own massive mitt towards Malone. “My wife thinks you’re the dog’s bollocks”
The contrast between the fresh-faced, bespectacled, slightly fogey-ish choirmaster and this gruff giant of British military manhood borders on the comical. Yet the encounter illustrates the degree to which Malone, while making his latest TV project The Choir: Military Wives, has charmed his way into the trust of the soldiers – and, more crucially, the soldiers’ wives – of RMB Chivenor in remote north Devon
Finally Malone and the Military Wives sang in November at the Festival of Remembrance at London’s Royal Albert Hall before the Queen and a huge audience inside the concert hall and live to millions watching on TV. They sang “Wherever You Are” composed by Paul Mealor. He drew the words from extracts given to him by the families, extracts from letter and poems written by the wives and their husbands while they were parted.
Remember the vast majority of these women had never sung in public before March 2011 – and the words they were singing came straight from their hearts…….
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait.
See their very first rehearsal here and their first public performance here.
UPDATE See the official Military Wives Choir video with lyrics here – and pre order the single here….there are three good reasons to buy the single
1 It’s a beautiful song beautifully sung
2 All proceeds go to service charities
3 By making it the UK Christmas #1 you will be giving Simon Cowell’s and his X Factor a poke in the eye
posted by david in Music,UK,War and have Comments Off on A Story To Lift Your Hearts – The Military Wives Choir….”They also serve who only stand and wait”… .
